Blog

Spring Break, Colorado-Style

Kim and I blew the Spring Break budget this year on the Costa Rica trip. Plus we are headed to Indiana this month for a week for our nephew’s wedding. Hence, Spring Break 2009 was to be played out close to home. However, we figured with all the warm spring weather we could do some cabin camping to get away for a day. So we booked the cabin in advance and were all set to sit on the porch by the fire and enjoy the outdoors.

Attention: The National Weather Service has issued a severe weather watch tonight which might develop into a blizzard and make your camping trip more interesting than you thought.

Should we still go? Of course! So we traded in the regular supplies for winter ones and set off to the mountains. It didn’t look great up there from down here but by the time we arrived, the sun was shining and it was nice out. What were they talking about? Forecasters are famous of getting about half of the storms right here. A blizzard warning could mean you are stuck for days or it might mean you might need gloves. We decided to go on a shorty short hike around the campground.

Little Miss Kidney Failure thought this was a good idea too after a morning of fluids.

Sydney claims she is thirsty and we forgot her water bottle so she is going to improvise.

Welcome to our new home!

First order of business: Try out the beds!

From there, this is how we would see the kids for the rest of the day. Up and down. Up and down. You would have thought the bunk bed was the most magical thing ever!

Peep spent much of her time instructing Slothy the Sloth on how to climb the beds.

Only one accident when Sydney stepped on a rail that was a “spinner”. She fell a little and proceeded to cry and say she wanted to go home right now. Minutes before, she wanted to live here. I kept asking about no TV but that didn’t seem to matter.

And then it started to snow.

Nobody wanted to hike up the snowy road in the middle of the night to the bathrooms. So we brought the port-o-pot and set it up. It has a trash bag in the middle — not seen here. So everyone took turns doing #1s on the porch while enjoying the snowfall. #2s were forced to make the walk of shame to the real bathrooms.

That wasn’t so bad because there was fun stuff to do along the way. Like hang out in the kiddie cabin.

Sleep went so-so. Sydney was out. Reagan couldn’t seem to fall asleep. And then randomly started bawling and wanting our cat, Zelda. Reagan never thinks about Zelda at home but from her crying, you would think that she couldn’t live without her. She finally passed out. When we got up, there was more snow! Not a blizzard but some fresh base to play in.

Time to sled! Oh. No hills. Daddy! Pull!

I got my workout in! Sprinting around at 9100′ with 2 kids on a sled in knee deep snow is a pretty good workout.

Our checkout time had come so it was time to pack up and head back home. The allure of the cabin for the parents was that we could just pack a few things and drop in. No big setup required. The cabin fit the bill nicely. If you zoom in, you can see Reagan not smiling — she is catching snowflakes in her mouth.